The Chalk Factory

‘The Chalk Factory’ was created in collaboration with workers with disabilities in Japan. Built in the dense industrial outskirts of Tokyo, Rikagaku Chalk Industries offered temporary employment to two teenagers with mental disabilities in 1960. The last day of the youths’ employment was marked by a little-known but extraordinary event that changed the factory’s identity and Japan’s labour history. Workers reacted against the dismissal of their disabled colleagues, requesting the extension of their contracts and emphasising the benefits of including them in their work team. Inspired by the workers’ historical protest, which addressed labour rights for workers with disabilities, Mikhail Karikis developed a relationship with the factory, gaining access to its unique production processes. The film observes the rhythms of a day at work, the transformations of materials and the vivid colour changes of the workspace. In this environment, we see the employees starting their day with balletic exercises, followed by the coordinated production choreography of workers and machines, and their mesmerising performance of repetitive and highly specialised tasks on custom-made equipment. The soundscape ranges from factory chimes which conduct the day’s activities to industrial beats accompanying the workers’ murmurs, their involuntary vocalisations and repeated soliloquies. These are interrupted by the cheerful dissonances of the workers’ karaoke and communal leisure time. The film is observational and foregrounds disability’s own cultural history. It observes productivity, the body and its social function, and raises ethical questions about disability, labour, and the dignity of work. Created in collaboration with workers with disabilities and featuring their empowering work environment, the film proposes a model of inclusion and difference.